Mary Morris’ new book, Enter Water, Swimmer, is a hauntingly beautiful collection of poetry that reaches deep into the soul and touches those places where we ponder life. Each page offers the reader an opportunity to connect with nature and what Mother Earth has to offer her children. Read more

Contributing writer Savanah Burns wrote this post in celebration of Randall Watson’s new book with Texas Review Press.

Everything has a place and time in life, and then life goes on, right? This is what nature warns us with the changing of the tree leaves. But in our own lives, the special and the ordinary moments in life come too fast and go too quickly. Those moments you didn’t know would be important until later on, such as when you first fall in love. And those moments you knew would change everything, such as the day your lover leaves. Read more

Every year, the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) organizes a literary conference which draws thousands of people: authors, editors, journals, students, graduate and residency programs, presses, and people who simply love books. In the span of three days, hundreds of panels are set up, ranging in topics which cover such things as writing in the LGBTQ community, what to do with your MFA degree after graduation, how writers become editors, and many more. A conference goer could easily schedule a panel for every hour in each day, if they wanted to.Read more

During the summer of 1880, amid the searing heat of the Chihuahuan Desert of West Texas and northern Mexico, Chief Victorio led his band of Mescalero and Warm Springs Apaches in a last, desperate exodus from a disease-ridden, barren reservation. Raiding cattle and horses to survive, Victorio and his people eluded pursuers on both sides of the Rio Grande, as the US Army, the Texas Rangers, and the Mexican territorial militia combined forces to ferret out and eliminate the fugitive Apaches. Read more

Contributing writer Savanah Burns wrote this post in celebration of Texas History this month.

This month is filled with Texas history. Last Friday, March 2, was Texas Independence Day. Two days ago, March 6, was spent commemorating the Battle of the Alamo. This month, we encourage you to celebrate Texas by reading a book relate to Texas history, or inspired by it. Here’s a list our staff put together for you: Read more

Award-winning author and guest contributor Johnnie Bernhard offers her advice on how to market yourself and your book, and to reach your audience.

When A Good Girl was published in 2017, I was very aware of entering a schizophrenic publishing market. It was saturated with self-published books, books from small and medium presses, and the New York big houses. I needed to find out immediately who my audience was, and how I could best meet that audience. Read more

Contributing writer Laura Brackin writes about nonfiction and how it is different from fiction, in terms of how a fiction reader should approach it.

Readers of fiction look for specific things in the literature they choose: well-voiced narration, dialogue that isn’t forced or seemingly “scripted,” proper grammar and punctuation, tension and urgency that keep the pages turning, and realistic characters who are well-developed and working to get themselves either out of trouble or closer to the desired object/situation/event.

On the Rocks was originally a short story I wrote the first winter I spent in Alabama (I lived in Tuscaloosa for four years while completing my MFA at the University of Alabama). I had wanted to write a story that takes place over the course of a family party, a situation ripe for inspiration in and of itself. Read more